Classic Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Classic Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Nothing says fall better than yummy pumpkin chocolate chip muffins baking in the oven. This classic pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe makes soft and moist muffins filled with scrumptious chocolate chips.

What ingredients are in classic pumpkin chocolate chip muffins?

The ingredients for easy pumpkin chocolate chip muffins are pretty basic and easy to find at your grocery store.

Canned pumpkin. The ingredient for the best pumpkin chocolate chip muffins is first and foremost canned pumpkin. Some stores, like Aldi, only carry canned pumpkin around baking season (the fall and winter months). You could puree your own freshly cooked pumpkin, but it would be a lot of additional work. Go for it if you have some extra time!

Sugar. White granulated sugar adds the sweet flavor to the muffins.

Oil. The most moist pumpkin chocolate chip muffins must have oil. The oil is the reason why this recipe makes the most moist muffins. You could substitute some oil with apple sauce, but I haven't tried to play with the proportions and I haven't tested how it would turn out. Let me know if you try it!

Eggs. Eggs are an almost essential ingredient for baked goods. The purpose of eggs in baking can be multi-faceted. Typically eggs are used for binding the ingredients together or helping with leavening.

Flour + Baking Soda + Baking Powder. These ingredients are typical ingredients used in baking. Flour provides the structure in baked goods. Baking soda and baking powder are leavening agents.

Cinnamon. The flavor of cinnamon is a quintessential fall flavor. You could swap out cinnamon with pumpkin spice seasoning to add a slightly different flavor. Pumpkin spice seasoning is usually a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and ginger.

Salt. Salt is also another typical ingredient in baked goods.

Chocolate chips. You can experiment with the type of chocolate chips you prefer for this recipe. I used semi-sweet chocolate morsels. Mini-chocolate chips would be fun to use. You could also swap out the semi-sweet chocolate chips with dark chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips, depending on your preference.

How do you make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins?

This pumpkin muffin recipe is a fairly easy recipe if you've done some baking before.

First, line a cupcake pan with disposable liners. If you don't have liners, lightly grease the cupcake pan first. I don't prefer baking muffins without liners since it can make the outside of the muffins slightly crisp.

Next, mix the canned pumpkin, oil, sugar, and eggs together until smooth. One thing I've learned is not to over beat the eggs. What tends to happen is the muffins become too chewy or gummy. When I've over-beaten the eggs in a cookie recipe, the cookies end up becoming too flat. Mix the pumpkin muffin ingredients together until blended and smooth, but not much longer.

Mix in the dry ingredients. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. If you are using an electric mixer, start out at a slow speed so the dry ingredients don't get flung out of the mixing bowl. Once again, mix until the ingredients look blended together, but don't over mix.

Stir in the chocolate chips. I prefer to stir the chocolate chips in manually with a wooden spoon.

Use a ¼ measuring cup to pour the batter into each cupcake liner. The cupcake liners should about three-fourths of the way full.

Tip: Sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top of each muffin before baking to create a beautiful bakery look.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 12-16 minutes. Start checking the muffins at the 12 minute mark. The pumpkin muffins will start to brown on top. You will want to pull them out as soon as the batter is set (looks firm to the touch in the middle of each muffin), but before the tops get too browned.

Transfer the old-fashioned pumpkin muffins to a cooling rack to cool before storing them in an air-tight container.

Are pumpkin muffins healthy?

I've seen a lot of healthy pumpkin muffin recipes on Pinterest, but I wouldn't come close to calling these healthy pumpkin muffins. The can of pumpkin might qualify as a serving of vegetables, but that is probably as close as you will get to trying to rationalize that these muffins are good for you. Ha!

I generally try to cook healthy meals for my family. When I do make something special, I always talk to my kids about why a particular food item should be treated like a dessert even if it doesn't seem like a dessert.

For instance, we tell our kids that soda is a dessert. We rarely let drink soda with a meal. If we do let our kids have soda, it is on a special occasion and we make sure they understand that it is not healthy. Not in the least bit!

I know some families that won't even allow their kids to drink soda or eat sugary things. That is commendable. However, I've taken the approach that (almost) everything is okay in moderation. I want my kids to learn how to self-moderate sugar or soda or other processed food. I feel like it is the best approach for my family as my kids get older and I can't be there to approve or disapprove of everything they eat.

Now that you've heard my rant/disclaimer, you really should try these classic pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. My mom started making this pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe years ago WAY before Starbuck's pumpkin spice lattes or pumpkin spice everything was a "thing". It is the PERFECT classic pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe.

Are pumpkin chocolate chip muffins freezable?

Yes! One of my favorite things about these classic pumpkin chocolate chip muffins is that they are freezable. You can heat the frozen muffin in the microwave for 20 second increments until softened when you are ready to eat one (or two or three). That means you can always have pumpkin chocolate chip muffins on hand.

Are you searching for some other fall recipes? Try this Mediterranean White Bean Soup!